A cable terminal is a form of connector for electric cables. A cable terminal can also be referred to as a cable lug, cable clip, cable eye or cable shoe. The cable terminal is usually designed so as to be able to be attached firmly to a cable or wire at one end of the cable terminal so that the other end can be screwed firmly into some contact point on an electrical component.
The cable terminal must meet statutory norms and standards, as well as coping with a high current load. The customary material for a cable terminal is a material with good conductive properties such as copper, brass, bronze, new silver (alpacca) or steel. The cable terminal is often fitted to a component manually, in which case demanding requirements are made of the terminal's ability to be fitted quickly, simply and correctly. Furthermore, the cable terminal is a link connecting a wire and a component, and must be able to cope with stresses such as being tugged without breaking. To this end, for example, cable housings have been developed which do not come off when the cable is pulled.
A cable terminal, then, is used when an electrical contact is needed between a wire and an electrical component. An example of such an application is a fuel injector for a cylinder in a combustion engine. The injector needs to be energized in order to be able to correctly control the injection of fuel into the combustion chamber. It is extremely important, therefore, that the cable terminal is correctly mounted in order to be able to power the injector. Since a cable terminal linking the injector with an electrical wire is often fitted in a factory environment under pressure of time, it is important to be able to guarantee correct fitting of the cable terminal in a quick and simple fashion. Faults that can occur when the cable terminal is incorrectly fitted are short-circuiting, tearing, the wire and/or cable terminal getting in the way of other parts, the cable terminal snapping off and so on. One way of ensuring that the cable terminal is fitted in a particular direction, for example, is to make use of lugs matching slots in the cable terminal. However, there is no good way of ensuring that the cable terminal is not fitted upside-down. One customary and simple cable terminal design is to shape it from a piece of punched metal, one end being designed with a slot in order to fit to a screw on a component and the other end being designed as upturned tabs which are depressed to enclose and secure a wire. In such a design the wire is fixed to one face of the cable terminal while the opposite face is essentially flat in order to be able to make tight contact with the component and attach to it with a screw joint. In the event of the cable terminal being fitted with the wrong face facing the component, the retaining screw will press not merely against the intended part of the cable terminal but also against the part where the wire is connected, also pressing against the actual wire in this way. This not only impairs the contact face but produces a risk of the screw joint being tightened to the wrong torque with the resultant risk of working loose after a while. When fitted under pressure of time, the cable terminal can easily end up being fitted with the wrong side facing the component. The same risk exists when accessibility and visibility are restricted during fitting.
The aim of the invention is thus to provide a cable terminal which facilitates correct fitting of the same to a component. One aim of the invention is to ensure that, when fitting, the correct side of the cable terminal faces the intended contact face on the component.